September 14, 2017, Austin, TX: The week of September 17-23 is Unmarried and Single Americans Week. In honor of the 110 million unmarried adults in America today — 45.2 percent of all U.S. residents over 18—the Council on Contemporary Families releases this new fact sheet by Bella DePaulo, Ph.D., Academic Affiliate, Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara.

While most Americans still marry at some point in their lives, the majority spend much more time single than in the past, either before or after marriage. In the forthcoming second edition of The Family, University of Maryland sociologist Philip Cohen notes that the “average American living in 1960 could expect to be married for three-quarters of the years between ages 18 and 55, that is, 29 out of 37 years. By 2015, that number had fallen to 18 years—only about half of those 37 years.”

Stephanie Coontz, Director of Research and Public Education at CCF, argues that “marriage has become just one stage of adulthood for many Americans, and a significant number choose not to marry at all. So, it is important to stop treating every unmarried person as an incomplete half of a married-couple-in waiting.”

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CONTACTS:

Stephanie Coontz, Professor of History, The Evergreen State College and CCF Director of Research and Public Education, at coontzs@msn.com, cell 360-556-9223.

The Council on Contemporary Families, based at the University of Texas-Austin, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of family researchers and practitioners that seeks to further a national understanding of how America’s families are changing and what is known about the strengths and weaknesses of different family forms and various family interventions.

The Council helps keep journalists informed of notable work on family-related issues via the CCF Network. To join the CCF Network, or for further media assistance, please contact Stephanie Coontz, Director of Research and Public Education, at coontzs@msn.com, cell 360-556-9223.